Electric Storm
by Spoongirl1
Summary: A new school year has begun and Warren finds himself up against the only person who is able to really get under his skin. WarrenOC
1. Disclaimer

**DISCLAIMER**

**I, the author, do not claim ownership of any characters used in the fanfiction that are property of Disney. No money is being made from the publishing of this fanfiction. All original characters are created by me, the author.**


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: Yay! I originally thought that Sky High looked like some stupid kids movie, but then I went and saw it and it was really good. However, I didn't like the fact that Warren wound up with some ice-girl, because that is really clichéd. (Does anyone but me remember that Iceman and Pyro were roommates in X2? Yeah, sorry Sky High writers, but the whole cold/heat thing has been done before. Too many times if you ask me.) So anyways, I felt that a great injustice was done and I had to fix it. Thus, my next fanfic was spawned. Hope you enjoy it!

(Also this fic will be mostly about Warren. I know that Will was the main character in the movie, but if you ask me he was a little dull and also a pretty standard comic-book character. Warren is SO much cooler!)

Oh and please review!

* * *

Layla couldn't believe the news.

Sadie Frost had broken up with Warren, just so she could date Mike T.

_She is such a bitch_, Layla thought. _And for Mike T? He's more obsessed with himself than she is. I mean, he keeps three mirrors in his locker, just so he can check out his reflection in-between classes and all the pictures in it are pictures of himself._ _Come to think of it though, those two deserve each other. _

"Did you hear what happened?"

Magenta slammed her locker open and threw some books inside.

"I mean, it's not like Warren is a really good friend of mine or anything, but could she have been anymore cold?"

"That girl is always cold." Zach replied, coming up behind her.

Magenta glared at him and he put his hands up in defense.

"I was just sayin'."

"Well, don't."

"Okay."

Layla sighed and pulled her Mad Science textbook out.

"I just hope Warren's all right. He must have taken it pretty hard."

Almost as if on cue, Warren stalked down the hall, an even deeper scowl than usual on his face.

"Warren?" Layla laid a comforting hand on his arm. "Are you okay?"

Warren's arm exploded into flame and Layla yelped and pulled her singed hand back.

He glared at the three of them and then stormed off.

* * *

Warren was off in his own world of fire and brimstone, when he felt someone crash into him.

"_Excuse_ me."

He glanced down and saw a girl with long, black and blue hair, picking books up off the floor.

"You should watch where you're going," he growled at her.

She glared up at him, through her long bangs, revealing almost black eyes flecked with grey.

"Why don't you try taking your own advice?"

She gathered up the rest of her books and shoved past him, walking off down the hall.

Layla, Zach and Magenta watched the little drama unfold with the shock plain on their faces.

"Wow," Magenta finally said. "Someone actually stood up to Warren."

"Weird," Zach added.

* * *


	3. Chapter 2

* * *

"Hey look." Magenta pointed across the cafeteria.

"What?" Will stared blankly around the large, busy room.

"It's that girl."

"What girl?"

"The girl who stood up to Warren."

"Somebody stood up to Warren?"

"Yeah."

Layla looked at the girl with sympathy.

"She's all alone. Let's go sit with her."

They all carried their trays over to the table and sat down.

Layla smiled at the girl, who had yet to acknowledge them.

"Hi."

The girl glanced up from her book and stared at them through her long bangs.

"Excuse me, did I ask you to sit here?"

They all stared at each other, slightly taken aback by her abrupt response.

Finally, Will found his voice again.

"Um, uhh...no."

"Good. Then don't."

Magenta's cheeks grew red and she glared angrily at the girl.

"I don't know what your problem is, but we're just trying to be friendly."

"Well, I didn't ask for friends, did I?"

"Uh, no."

"Exactly. And I don't want any. So do us both a favor and leave me alone."

She shoved her book into her bag and stood up. There was a screech of metal against tile, as she pushed her chair back and strode out of the cafeteria.

"Wow." Ethan finally managed.

Magenta scowled and stabbed angrily at her fries. "It's no wonder she stood up to Warren. She has as many issues as he does."

* * *


	4. Chapter 3

* * *

Warren settled back into his seat and sighed softly to himself.

Far be it from him to admit it to anyone, but he actually enjoyed his English class.

He slipped _King Lear_ out of his bag and was about to disappear into it, when there was a soft knock at the door.

"Yes?" The teacher, Mr. Moody turned from the blackboard to address the newcomer.

"Um, hi. I just got a transfer into this class."

Warren glanced up from his book and groaned inwardly.

The girl who had run into him in the hallway was standing in the door of the classroom.

Mr. Moody walked over to her and took the papers that she offered him.

"So, I assume you have received the placement of HERO?"

"Yes."

Mr. Moody nodded and shuffled through the papers.

"Your name is Eris...Storm?"

He sounded almost in disbelief as he read her last name.

"Uh, yes."

"So that would make your mother Tempest Storm then?"

She lowered her head and her answer was barely above a whisper.

"Yes."

"Hmm and that would mean your father is Static?"

This time her answer was a bit louder.

"Yes."

"Well, let's hope that you take more after your father than your mother."

She nodded, but Warren could see her cheeks were bright red.

"Well, Eris. Let me be one of the first to welcome you to Sky High. I believe we have a seat for you in the back."

She looked up from under her bangs and for a split second, her gaze met Warren's. Then she tore her eyes away and blushed an even deeper shade of red.

"Um, sorry. Do you mind if I sit somewhere else?"

"Uh, certainly. I believe we have an empty seat up here..."

She slid her green canvas bag off her shoulder and slipped behind the desk that Mr. Moody indicated.

Warren watched as she waited for Mr. Moody's back to be turned, before sliding her sweatshirt hood up over her head and laying her head down on her backpack, hiding her face in her arms.

* * *


	5. Chapter 4

* * *

Eris finished cramming her books into her bag and slammed her locker door shut.

She glanced at her watch and then sighed.

"Two minutes to make it through this crowd to my bus? I am so screwed..."

* * *

By the time Eris reached her bus, the doors were just about to shut.

She slung her bag into the rapidly decreasing space between the doors, stopping their momentum.

The bus driver, an older woman with a purple beehive that defied all laws of physics and gravity glared at her and cracked her gum, but swung the doors open again.

"Sorry. I'm sorry," Eris muttered, climbing on the bus.

"Look girly, we have no time for excuses. So next time, if you're going to be late, plan on finding another way home."

"Yes, I know. I'm sorry..."

"I told you. We don't have time. Now find a seat or get off the bus."

Eris nodded and walked down the aisle, ignoring the many stares and whispers that were thrown in her direction.

She stopped at the first empty seat she saw, but then groaned to herself when she realized who was sitting on the window side of the seat.

Warren Peace. He had been nothing but a pain in her butt since she arrived at the school. She really didn't want to finish off what could be called one of the worst first days of school by having to sit next to him on the ride home. But there were no other seats and the bus driver was snapping her gum angrily at her in the rearview mirror. Screwing up her last nerve, Eris gestured to the seat next to him.

"Do you mind if I sit here ?"

He glared at her, obviously expecting for his hard stare to scare her and a few small flames flickered over the back of his hand.

"Yes, I do."

"Well, there's no other seats."

"Isn't that just too bad for you."

Eris glared back at him and sat down anyways.

"I guess you'll just have to deal with it then."

He glared at her again and suddenly her side of the seat burst into flame.

Eris sighed and waved her hand, quickly forming a small raincloud.

With another small wave, the cloud darkened and it began to pour rain, dousing the flames.

Once they had been put out, she waved away the cloud and looked at Warren.

"Nice try, Hothead, but your flames aren't going to scare me or do me any damage. I can control the weather.

He muttered something under his breath and pulled a battered book out of his bag.

"Good idea. In fact, since it apparently bothers you so much to sit next to me, why don't we just ignore each other ? I really think that would make the ride so much pleasurable for the both of us."

He didn't respond and didn't look up from his book.

Eris sighed and unhooked her large, DJ-style headphones from around her neck, slipping them up over her ears.

She hit the play button on her CD player and let her thoughts drift as the sounds of Agent Provocateur's _Red __Tape_ filled her ears.

_I wonder what he has against me_, she thought. _I've heard that he can be pretty mean, but he really doesn't seem to like me. Besides the whole walking into him in the hall thing,__ which was a complete accident,_

* * *

Eris was jolted out of her thoughts, as the bus lurched to a stop.

She looked past the still silent Warren and realized it was her stop.

"Move."

Eris glanced at Warren and saw he was standing up.

"Excuse me?"

"Move. I have to get off."

"Well, so do I."

"Then get up."

"All right. I'm going."

She grabbed her bag and swung it over her shoulder, accidentally-on-purpose hitting Warren with it.

"Watch it," he growled for the second time that day.

"Oh, I'm sorry..." She plastered on her fake, concerned smile. "Did I hit you?"

He shook his head and glared at her again, before shoving past her, knocking her back into her seat.

"O-kay then."

Eris picked herself up off the seat and stalked down the aisle after him.

* * *


	6. Chapter 5

* * *

After two blocks, Warren turned around and glared angrily at the girl who was still walking behind him.

"All right, look. I don't know if you think that following me around all day is going to make me like you, but all you're really doing right now is pissing me off."

She stared at him like he was crazy and pulled her headphone off her ears.

"What is your major malfunction? I'm not following you."

He scoffed. "Yeah right. Then why have you been walking behind me since we got off the bus?"

She rolled her eyes and sighed in an exhausted way.

"I've been walking behind you since we got off the bus, because I live around here too, you twit. This is the route I take to get home everyday. And as for winding up in most of your classes, believe me, if I could change my schedule, I would ."

She yanked her headphones up over her ears and shoved past him, whacking him again with her heavy bag.

After a few steps though, she turned around and looked at him with disdain.

"And stop trying to be all moody and scary. It's not working. You just look stupid."

She turned back around and stomped up the driveway of a huge white house.

Warren glared at her retreating form and small flames licked at his hand as the door slammed shut behind her.

_It figures_, he thought. _She's some rich bitch who thinks that just because she has money, she knows everything. I can't stand how pretentious she is._

As he stood on the sidewalk stewing, another thought crept into his mind.

_But is that really it?_

_Maybe the reason you don't like her, is because she's not scared of you. You expect anyone that doesn't know you really well to be afraid of you and then along she comes and she completely calls your bluff. You're not as bad-ass as you want everyone to think you are._

_But it's true isn't __it?__ You're not a total bad-ass. If you were so tough, you would have let those sidekicks fight their own fight. You wouldn't have helped. Maybe you would have even joined the bad guys' side._

_Getting touchy aren't we __now _

_Now, Warren, I'm just trying to help you. Maybe you are a bad-ass. Maybe the reason you don't like this new girl is because one of her parents was a supervillain too. Maybe you are afraid that is will destroy your little bit of individuality. _

_Well, then why have you been so defensiv__e towards __he ?__ What did she ever do to you_

_Yes, Warren_

**_Shut up. Just shut up..._**

_Now, Warren. You know I'm just trying to help..._

"I said, SHUT UP!"

Warren's arm suddenly burst into flame and the shrub that was next to him quickly went up in flames.

"Excuse me son, but your arm appears to be on fire."

He looked up and saw an elderly man with a pug on a leash, staring at him in confusion.

Warren extinguished the flame and stalked down the street, muttering under his breath, leaving the other man still staring in confusion at the burning bush.

* * *


	7. Chapter 6

_

* * *

They said all teenagers scare__the__ living shit out of me _

_They could care less_

_As long as someone'll bleed _

_So darken your clothes _

_Or strike a violent pose _

_Maybe they'll leave you alone, __but not me__…_

Eris groggily emerged from her tangle of blankets on the floor and slammed her hand down on top of her radio-alarm clock.

She groaned as her fingers connected with the melted piece of plastic that used to be the Sleep button.

_Why did I fry it again?_ She wondered. _Oh right, so I couldn't oversleep anymore._

Eris rolled off her mattress and landed on the blue carpeted floor.

Most people slept in beds, but she preferred her mattress on the ground.

It probably had something to do with the day when her powers manifested and she'd woken up to find herself floating a good ten feet in the air.

Ever since then, she didn't like being off the ground when she slept, because she was always afraid she'd float off.

It had taken her father forever to convince her that she didn't need to sleep with one of his exercise weights tied to her ankle, just as an extra precaution.

Tearing her mind back to the present, she searched through the piles of clothes on the floor and pulled out her favorite pair of pants.

Technically, they were guys' shorts, but they were an XS and were so comfortable, plus the blue stitching on them matched her hair color.

She slipped off her pajama bottoms and pulled on her lightening bolt patterned undies and then the shorts.

Eris searched though another pile and then tugged on a grey t-shirt with a Nene Thomas fairy on the front. Climbing to her feet, she stood in front of the slightly cracked mirror that hung on one wall and carefully fixed her hair into two mini-buns, letting her long bangs fall forward into her eyes.

After applying a thick layer of black liner around her eyes, she slipped on a pair of storm-cloud patterned socks and padded down the hall to the kitchen.

"Morning, Eris."

She muttered under her breath and perched on one of the bar stools that surrounded their small table.

"Still not awake yet?"

"Mmph."

"You need coffee?"

"Gargh."

"Wow, you are particularly incoherent this morning."

"Shut up."

Her uncle, Hiroshi grinned at her and slid a cup of steaming coffee in front of her.

Eris dragged it closer and took a sip.

"Ew, this tastes disgusting."

"That's because it's decaf, not regular. You don't need the extra caffeine."

"Ew." She made a face, but took another sip.

"You'll learn to like it."

"Blah."

"So are you actually going to eat something or are you just going to make faces at your coffee?"

"Do we have any muffins?"

"Yep."

"Can I have one?"

"Sure, they're over there."

She growled at Hiroshi, who grinned back at her and waggled his eyebrows, causing the recently acquired stud in his left eyebrow to move up and down.

Most people thought he was her older brother, as opposed to her uncle, but the fact remained that while he was only 27, he was still her mom's younger brother.

Eris grabbed a muffin from the container on the counter and took a big bite out of it.

Glancing at the clock, her eyes widened.

"Oh, shit. I've gotta go."

"Was that even in English?"

She shot him another dirty look and swallowed the chunk of muffin.

"I said, I've gotta go."

"I know, I heard you the first time."

"You suck."

"You might say that now, but you really love me."

She glared at him and then sat down to pull on her knee-high, lace-panel Doc Martens.

Grabbing her black messenger bag off her chair, she slid her headphones over her ears and ran out the door.

* * *

Lyrics - My Chemical Romance _Teenagers_


	8. Chapter 7

* * *

The ride to school was relatively uneventful, as was the morning.

By the time lunch rolled around, it seemed to Eris that her second day was going to be a relatively good one.

She had managed to avoid running into Warren again and all she had was three classes and a quick bus ride home and she would be free for another twelve hours.

Her good mood was quickly destroyed though, when she stepped into her Supervillain Psych 101 class and saw Warren sitting at the back of the room.

_Damn it_, she thought. _And here I was thinking I could actually avoid him for a whole day. I have no luck._

She would have stood in the door brooding for even longer if Mr. Medulla's smooth voice hadn't interrupted her thoughts.

"Ah, yes. You're our...transfer student, aren't you?"

Eris forced her mind off of Warren and onto her teacher.

"Yes, I am."

"Well, this will be a tad difficult finding you a class partner, since we are already two weeks into the school year."

"I know. I'm sorry about that, but you see..."

He cut her off with a wave of his hand.

"I said it would be difficult, not impossible, especially not for me. Now let me think..."

He tapped his chin and Eris tried hard not to giggle as she imagined his giant head literally pulsating as he thought.

"Ah, yes. I believe that Mr. Peace has yet to receive a partner. You can work with him."

"Um, Mr. Medulla… I'm sorry, but I can't be partners with him."

"Why not?"

"Well, um, you see..."

Mr. Medulla let out a long-suffering sigh and waved his hand at the empty seat next to Warren.

"Since you apparently do not have a legitimate reason for not wanting to work with Mr. Peace, he will be your partner. Now take your seat. You've held up this class for long enough."

"Yes, sir." She muttered and sat down next to Warren, who as she predicted, ignored her.

"Now, in your groups, you will be assigned a famous supervillain. You will have a month to research your villain and their history. At the end of the month, you will present your research and explain why your villain chose the path they did. You may work both in class and outside of school. Be warned though, this is going to count for a considerable amount of your first term mark, so it had better be good. This is a team project so I want good work from both partners."

He paused and shot a look at Warren and Eris, before continuing.

"Please wait until I give you your villain and then begin to discuss with your partner your course of action."

He pulled out a stack of papers and began giving them out to the different groups.

When Eris read the name of their villain, a small gasp escaped her lips and she turned even paler.

"Um, excuse me? Mr. Medulla?"

Mr. Medulla came over to the desk with a questioning look on his face.

"Yes? Is there a problem?"

"Mr. Medulla, I'm sorry, but I can't do this villain."

"And why is that?"

"Uh, well, it's kind of personal."

Beside her, Warren glanced over her shoulder and read the name on the paper.

"How is it personal?"

"Because...because..."

"Because?"

Eris' cheeks turned the same red that they had been the day before and her voice dropped to a whisper.

"Because, that's my mom."

Mr. Medulla feigned a look of surprise.

"That's right. It completely slipped my mind."

Although hot tears were pricking at her eyes, she glared at him angrily.

"How could it? With a brain as big as yours, it must be hard to forget things. Besides, it's not that hard to figure out that we're related. We do have the same last name."

"You're right. Well, this will be so much more interesting then. You'll know all kinds of things about her that the records won't. I expect this project to be much more in-depth than the others."

"Mr. Medulla, you don't understand. I really can't do this. Don't you have any other villains?"

A hard look came over his face and he stared stonily down at her.

"There is no exchanging your villain, Ms. Storm. If you feel you can't do the project, then you will just have to fail."

"Fuck you," she spat and grabbed her bag off the floor, storming out of the classroom.

A few seconds later, there was a resounding crash as another door was flung open and then slammed shut.

"Well, that was exciting. But there's nothing to see now, so back to work everyone. Mr. Peace, you too."

Warren shook his head and glared at Mr. Medulla.

"You are a completely arrogant asshole and are almost no better than the people on these papers."

He then slipped his bag over his shoulder and walked out of the room, leaving a stunned and speechless Mr. Medulla behind him.

* * *


	9. Chapter 8

* * *

As Warren left the class, he thought he heard a faint sob coming from a little further down the hall.

Following the sound, he came to an empty classroom, whose door was slightly ajar.

There was another sob from inside the room, but it was muffled this time.

Warren opened the door and slipped inside, shutting it quietly behind him.

Scanning the room he saw Eris curled into a ball between two bookshelves at the back of the class.

The hood of her sweatshirt was pulled up and she was covering her face with her arms.

Her shoulders were shaking hard and Warren could hear her bite back another sob.

He walked over to her and knelt beside her, but she didn't look up.

"Are you okay?"

He wasn't completely sure why it mattered to him that she was upset, but he felt he should do something about it.

Eris pushed her hair out of her eyes and looked at him angrily.

Her cheeks were still red, but they were now slick with tears and she quietly hiccupped.

"Do I look like I'm fucking okay?"

"Listen. What Mr. Medulla did was completely wrong. He was just being an ass like he always is."

"No shit."

There was a short silence and then Eris spoke again.

"It's just so unfair. Everyone automatically assumes that just because my mom went crazy, it means I'm gonna be evil too. I hate it."

Warren nodded. "I can relate."

"How?" She spat. "Do you think you "get" me? You think you know what it's like to live with the shame? Please, spare me."

"No…"

"No? No, what?"

"No, I can relate because my dad was - is," he corrected himself. "A supervillain."

"Oh."

There was another short silence and then Eris shook her head.

"Well, I feel like an idiot now."

Warren offered her a small smile. It wasn't really a smile actually; more of a slight curve in his lips on one side of his mouth, but it was more than he gave most people. And it was a genuine smile, not a smirk and not an evil grin, so that counted for something too.

"You're not. I'm just surprised that you haven't heard of him. Pretty much everyone else in the school knows I'm Baron Battle's son. That's part of the reason why people avoid me."

Eris blew her bangs off her face and smiled shyly.

"Well, it's part of growing up in a rural town in Japan. That and having parents who don't want you to know about their lives. I'm relatively uneducated in the world of superheroes and villains."

"You grew up in Japan?"

"Yeah. My mom's Japanese and my parents thought it would be a good place for me to live, because not many people knew them there. Or at least, they didn't know about their super alter-egos."

"How long did you live there?"

"Up until two weeks ago. That's when I developed my powers."

"So how do you speak English so well?"

"My dad is American and he insisted that while Japanese would be my first language, I'd also be able to speak fluent English."

Warren nodded, slowly digesting the information. This was probably the longest conversation he'd had with anyone in a while. He didn't think that the one he'd had at the Paper Lantern with Layla really counted, because that was more planning out a way to piss off Will.

"So what about you?"

He looked up, surprised and realized that Eris was watching him.

"What about me?"

"Well, you have to have some kind of life story. That is, unless you were a cloned test-tube baby. You weren't one of those, were you? 'Cause they can be seriously screwed up."

She gave him a mock-serious stare and his smile grew a bit.

"There's not really much to tell."

Eris glared at him and swatted his shoulder lightly.

"C'mon. I babbled on for a good five minutes about my screwed up home life. Now you have to tell me something about yours."

"Well, you know that my dad's Baron Battle, right? So fairly normal life until he went to jail. Then it was me and my mom. Now it's me. Happy?"

She looked shocked. "That is the shortest life story I have ever heard. How come you don't live with your mom anymore? Unless it's because of something really bad and then you don't have to tell me."

"No. She just figured that it would be safer for me not to live with her. Especially now that her career has given her a lot of enemies."

Eris nodded. "I can relate to that. I don't live with my dad either."

"Why not?"

"Same reason. Too many of his arch-nemesis' know his real identity and he was afraid that they would use me to get to him. So he sent me to live here with my uncle."

"How come he didn't do that sooner?"

"Because he was in retirement before. But when my mom snapped, he came out of retirement to stop her. After she was put in jail, a lot of his old enemies found out he was back and began challenging him to fight them or they were gonna blow up the world and all that jazz. So he figured it wasn't safe for me anymore and sent me to live here. Also, he wanted me to go to Sky High so I could learn to control my powers."

"I'd say, from what I saw yesterday, you seem to have a lot of control already."

Eris laughed. "That? I was bluffing. This," she waved her hand and a basketball sized raincloud appeared in the air above her hand. "Is the biggest one that I can make. Hence, the reason I am a big disappointment to my mom. The whole rain and winds thing is her power, but apparently I don't have as strong powers as she did."

"So how did you get HERO placement then?"

She waved her hand again and the cloud disappeared. "I also inherited my dad's powers, but they are a lot stronger than my mom's."

"So what can you do?"

"A lot of stuff involving electricity. The biggest things are force fields and if I concentrate the energy, I can use it to melt things or cut through things. I impressed Boomer, because I used the force field to stop the car and then I cut it up into little pieces."

"Wow."

"Yeah, but you don't ever have to worry."

"And why is that?"

"Because my electricity powers are a lot like yours and my rain clouds only last for a little while."

Just then, they heard a bell ring out in the hall. Eris glanced at her watch and realized that they'd actually spent the last two and a half periods talking.

"Wow. Time to go home."

"Yeah."

Warren stood up and picked up his bag. Eris slipped her bag over her shoulder and was about to stand up, when Warren offered her his hand.

She accepted it and he pulled her to her feet.

He gave her a brief nod and another one of those small smiles and then walked out of the class.

* * *

Eris leaned against the wall and let out a breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding in.

Then she shook her head angrily.

_Why __are you getting all lightheaded__? It doesn't mean anything. He's not interested in you and even__ if he was, who are you kidding__? Love never works out. Rememb__er what happened to Mom and Dad__? It wil__l just be the same for you..._

Biting her lip, Eris pulled her bag close to her body and then left the class.

* * *


	10. Chapter 9

* * *

"You mind if I sit here?"

Warren looked up and saw Eris standing at the other side of the table.

"It's just that most of the other tables are already filled up and --"

He shook his head. "Eris, it's okay. Sit down."

Eris pulled up an unused chair and dropped her bag onto the table.

"So how was your night?"

Warren looked a bit surprised, like no one has ever asked him about his day before.

"My night?"

"Yeah. What did you do? For example, did you kick any bad guy butt, anything like that?"

Warren took a sip from his bottle of iced-tea and shook his head.

"Not really. I went to work and then came home, did some homework. Not much else."

She nodded and grabbed another golden-brown piece of something out of her lunch box with her chopsticks and popped it in to her mouth.

"What about you?"

"Same. Homework, chatting with my friend Miko at an unbearable hour of the night on MSN. Pretty boring."

"Why were talking to them so late at night?"

"Because she still lives in Japan and there's the whole time difference thing."

He nodded and pointed to the container in front of her.

"What've you got?"

"Leftovers. My uncle was too tired to cook yesterday, so he got us takeout from this really good Chinese restaurant."

'Do you know the name of the place?"

"Um, I'm pretty sure it's called the Paper Lantern. Why?"

"Oh, I work there."

Eris smiled. "Maybe I'll have to come stop by and see you sometime."

"Maybe."

Warren glanced at the clock on the wall behind Eris' head and then stood up.

"I've gotta go."

"Bye."

"Bye."

He picked his bag up off the table and then walked out of the cafeteria.

* * *

Eris smiled to herself and then concentrated on finishing her lunch.

"I hope you realize that what you're doing is kinda stupid."

She looked up and saw another girl sitting in the now-empty seat on the other side of the table.

"Excuse me?"

The girl waved her hand towards the door of the cafeteria. "This whole flirting with Warren thing. It's never going to work."

"I'm not."

"Not what?"

"Not flirting with him. And what does it matter to you anyways ?"

"It matters to me, because I'm his girlfriend."

Eris studied the strange girl sitting in front of her. Her skin was even paler than Eris' own almost lily-white shade and she had long, shiny white-blond hair that looked like it had been professionally styled that morning, perfectly white teeth and cornflower blue eyes. She was wearing a pale blue polo shirt with a strand of pearls around her neck. Two blue barrettes held her hair back out of her eyes, revealing flawlessly applied glittery eye-shadow.

Finally she spoke.

"I wasn't aware that Warren had a girlfriend."

"Well, he does and I don't like it when other girls flirt with him. So back off."

"I think that Warren's a big enough boy to make up his own mind about who he talks to. And besides, I heard that you dumped him."

"Well, you heard wrong."

Eris calmly took a sip of her drink. "Mm-hmm. So if I go ask Warren, he'll tell me you two are still dating?"

Sadie stiffened a bit, but then smiled. It would've have appeared to be a friendly smile, if her eyes hadn't hardened and begun to bore into Eris.

There was a long silence and Sadie still didn't respond.

"Well?"

She sat up straighter and flashed Eris another smile. "Yes. He'll tell you that we are still dating and very much in love."

"All right. Well, if you don't mind, I'll just go ask him then."

Eris collected her containers into her lunchbox and stood up. She picked up her bag and was about to walk away when Sadie stood up as well and grabbed her arm.

"Look," she snarled, her pretty face twisting into a hideous parody of itself. "You do not want to have me as your enemy. So leave him alone or things will get very bad for you."

Eris glared back at her. After a few tense seconds, Sadie yelped and pulled her hand back. There was a nasty looking welt on the palm and it was still smoking slightly.

"Word to the wise, Frost. It shouldn't be me that's worried about you. It should be you worrying about me. I may be training to be a superhero, but I am my mother's daughter and you really don't want to fuck with me. Got it?"

Sadie nodded slowly.

"Good."

Eris began to walk away, but Sadie yelled after her.

"This isn't over. You've just made your life a living hell."

If anyone had seen Eris' face at that moment, they would have been terrified and they probably would have every reason to be.

She smiled to herself and shook her head.

* * *


	11. Chapter 10

* * *

Warren was sitting in the back of the Mad Science lab, waiting for class to start when Sadie suddenly sat down beside him.

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, raising one eyebrow just a touch.

"Hi Warren," she said sweetly, with a big sparkly grin on her face.

"Sadie, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I was just thinking and it seemed like I hadn't seen you in practically forever, even though that's totally not true. And then I remembered that you have Mad Science next period, so I thought I'd drop by and say hello."

He turned to stare fully at her. What was with the sudden change in attitude? She hadn't been this friendly since before she dumped him. She had to have some ulterior motive.

"What do you want, Sadie?"

She feigned a look of surprise. "Why do you think that I want something?"

"Because you haven't spoken a word to me, since you dumped me a week ago and suddenly you're acting like nothing happened."

"Oh, Warren." Sadie covered one of his hands with her own and smiled sadly. "I was being foolish. I know what I did was wrong and I must have hurt you SO much, but I wanted to apologize for it. Will you forgive me?"

Warren shrugged slightly. "Whatever."

Sadie saw Eris in the doorway to the classroom, before Warren did.

She quickly grabbed him before he could see the other girl and laid a big kiss on him.

As she kissed him, she heard a small gasp and then the sound of footsteps retreating quickly.

_That'll show her_, she thought with a smug grin.

* * *

Eris walked into the Mad Science lab, just in time to see Warren and Sadie sharing a long, deep kiss.

A stabbing pain encircled her heart, as she backed quickly away from the room and hurried down the hall, to the girls' washroom.

Dropping her bag on the floor, she clutched the sides of the sink as she fought to keep herself from bursting into tears.

_Why does this matter?_ She thought. _Why does it hurt so much? I don't even like him, so why am I upset that he's kissing another girl. I should be happy that he got back together with Sadie, not crying about it._

Turning the taps on, she splashed cold water on her face to get the redness out of her cheeks.

"Hey, are you all right?"

Eris turned to see the redheaded girl from the day before standing behind her with a concerned look on her face.

Eris nodded slowly. "Yeah. I --" her voice cracked and she took a deep breath to calm herself. "I'm okay."

"All right. If you're sure."

She managed a small smile. "Yeah."

The other girl moved to leave, but Eris called after her.

"Hey."

She turned around. "Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry about yesterday. I shouldn't have been such a bitch. I was just having a really bad day and I guess all my anger just spilled over onto you guys. So-- I'm sorry."

The redhead smiled. "That's okay. I understand."

Eris smiled back. "Okay. I just wanted to say sorry, because--"

The other girl cut her off with a small wave of her hands. "It's fine. It's behind us now…Oh, I'm Layla, by the way."

"Eris."

"That's a pretty name."

"Yeah, my parents are pretty cool people."

"So what are your powers?"

"Electricity and a little bit of weather control. What about you?"

"I control plants."

"That's pretty awesome. How come I've never seen you in any of the HERO classes?"

Layla shrugged. "I refused to show my powers on placement day, so I got put in Hero Support."

Eris nodded. " I can understand. I wasn't planning on showing my powers either, but when Coach Boomer dropped the car on me, I freaked out and blew it up."

Layla laughed. "I would have loved to see the look on his face."

"Yeah, it was pretty priceless."

Just then, the bell rang, signaling the start of the next class.

Eris picked up her bag and was about to leave the washroom, when Layla stopped her.

"Hey, Eris. Do you want to eat lunch with me and my friends tomorrow?"

"Sure. I guess I better apologize to them too..."

"Don't worry. I'll explain it. They're all pretty forgiving."

"Okay. But I still want to apologize myself."

"All right. So I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Definitely."

"Okay."

Layla smiled again and then left the bathroom.

Eris smiled softly to herself. Having plans felt good. She hadn't felt this way since she left Japan.

Then a black cloud came in and darkened her good mood.

_What about Warren?_

Suddenly, she didn't feel like going to the next period, because she knew she would have to sit next to him.

Slipping the strap of her bag over her shoulder, she headed the other way down the hall, to the office, to see about getting herself signed out.

* * *


	12. Chapter 11

_

* * *

_

_This is nice, isn't it Warren? _

What do you mean ?

_I mean, this is what you wanted isn't it? For Sadie to say it was all a mistake? For her to take you back?_

I guess so...

_But?_

But this doesn't feel right. There's something wrong... something missing.

_Really?_

Yeah... like the spark. It's gone.

* * *

Warren heard a small gasp and pulled away from Sadie, just in time to see Eris run off.

He got to his feet, intending to follow her, to explain, to do something, although his brain hadn't fully registered everything that had just.

As he moved to leave though, Sadie blocked his path.

"You should leave it, Warren. It's better that she finds out now."

"Finds out what?"

"That you and I are back together now. You see, she had a BIG crush, even though I told her that we were a couple." She sighed in a sympathetic way. "I guess she just didn't believe me."

"Wait, what?"

This was all happening too fast for him and he was deeply confused.

"Since when are we back together?"

Sadie's mouth fell open in shock. "I - I thought that... I mean, the kiss... Didn't it mean anything to you?"

Warren glared at her. He wasn't sure what the hell she was trying to pull, but it was starting to piss him off.

"Let's get this straight. YOU kissed ME. I may have kissed you back, because sure, you're attractive and what guy wouldn't want to kiss you ? But there is no way in Hell that we are back together. In fact, I wouldn't date you if we were the only people left on this planet. Find yourself someone else, Sadie, because I am not going to let you fuck with me any longer."

He pushed past the stunned and speechless Sadie and headed for the door.

As Warren left, she let out a pissed off wail and then shrieked after him.

"You did not just break up with me! No one dumps me! I dump YOU! OHMIGOD, YOU ARE SO DEAD! YOU HEAR ME, WARREN? DEAD!"

* * *

Eris lay stretched out on her bed, letting the soothing sounds of The Cranberrie's _Zombie_ wash over her. 

She'd lucked out back at school. There had been two other sick kids, so they'd all been allowed to go home.

She glanced at her clock and saw that school had ended twenty minutes earlier.

For a split second, she wondered if maybe Warren had noticed that she wasn't there, but then decided he was probably too busy making out with Sadie to care.

Suddenly there was a knock at her door, but she ignored it.

A few seconds later, there was another one.

"Fuck," she muttered. "Go away!"

"Eris? One of your friends is here to see you."

"I'm sick."

"No, you're not. I let you come home early, even though you look to be completely healthy, so get your butt out here."

"Who is it?"

"She says her name is Layla."

_What? How does she know where I live?_

"Eris?"

"All right. I'll be out in a minute."

"Okay."

Eris rolled off her bed and quickly found a pair of semi-clean black jeans on the floor.

She pulled them on and then scraped her hair away from her face and pulled it back into a high ponytail.

There was nothing she could do about her red cheeks or bloodshot eyes, but it was too late for that.

Standing up, she shut off her music and then pulled open the door...

* * *


	13. Chapter 12

* * *

Eris stopped short as she entered the living room.

Standing beside her uncle, who was rather unsuccessfully trying to hide a broad grin, was an almost nervous looking Warren.

Without acknowledging Warren, Eris grabbed her uncle and dragged him back out into the hallway.

"What the hell?" She growled in a low whisper. "You told me it was Layla."

Hiroshi grinned broadly. "Oh right. I must've gotten confused."

"How-how could you get confused ? There is NO WAY anyone could confuse Layla with... him."

"Oh well."

"I hate you... And now I'm going back to my room."

"You can't."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because you have a guest. Now go in there and be nice."

"I REALLY hate you."

"That's nice."

Hiroshi grinned evilly and shoved her back into the living room.

* * *

As Eris stumbled into the room, her foot connected with the coffee table, causing her to fall even further forwards.

Warren, who had been looking out the large picture window, managed to turn around and catch her though, before her face made a sudden introduction to the floor.

Eris took a moment to collect herself, until she realized how closely she was pressed up against Warren.

She blushed a deep red and quickly pulled away, putting a few feet of space between herself and Warren.

Warren cleared his throat and then shoved his hands deep into his pockets, trying to ignore the fact the a few seconds earlier, they had accidentally gotten aquatinted with a few more personal parts of Eris' body.

"Uh, Eris. I'm...sorry for just showing up like this, but-"

"No, it's okay. I was just kinda surprised… I mean, my uncle told me it was someone else."

Warren raked a hand through his already unkempt hair and nodded slowly.

"Uh, yeah. I told him to tell you that. I just wasn't sure if you would want to talk to me."

A look of confusion slid across her face.

"Why ? I mean, you haven't done anythi..." She trailed off as she suddenly remembered. "Oh yeah, the Sadie thing."

"Yeah, about that-"

"Warren, it's okay."

"It is?"

"Yeah. I mean, I'm happy for the two of you. She's a great girl and you totally deserve her."

Now, it was Warren's turn to be confused.

"What? ...Wait, Eris, listen. I know what you saw, but Sadie and I are not back together."

"You're not?"

"No."

"Bu-but, the kiss...and-"

"She kissed me. I didn't kiss her back."

"But, why? I mean-"

"There's someone else."

"Who?...Oh Mike T, right?"

Warren shook his head. "No, I mean someone else for me."

"Oh."

Eris stared blankly at him for a second, but then looked away as the realization hit her.

"You-you don't mean..."

Warren grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer, closing the distance between them.

Eris stared at her feet, like the chipped blue polish on her toenails was the next Mona Lisa, but Warren could see the deep crimson blush spread across her cheeks.

He slipped his free hand under her chin and tilted her head up, so he could look her in the eye.

"Yeah, I do," was all he said, before leaning in to kiss her.

* * *

Eris' eyelids fell shut, as she felt Warren's lips press gently against hers.

Her heart was pounding in her chest and her stomach felt like it was tied in knots.

When his tongue brushed insistently against her lips, her mouth fell open involuntarily, allowing him full possession of her.

Even though her heart was screaming at her not to do it, her head told her otherwise and she forced herself to pull out of Warren's grasp.

"I-I'm sorry, bu-but I can't...I just can't..." She managed to stammer, before bolting from the room.

Eris heard Warren call after her, but she kept on running, putting more and more distance between the thing she wanted so badly, but knew she could never have and herself.

* * *


	14. Chapter 13

* * *

Somehow Eris had managed to avoid Warren on the way to school, but he was determined to talk to her.

He thought that he would find her at lunchtime, but by the time lunch had ended, he hadn't seen her at all.

Finally he managed to corner her before Gym Class.

Eris tried to duck into the girls change room, but he grabbed her and pulled her into an empty classroom.

"Warren, what the hell are you doing? We're going to be late for class..."

"I need to talk to you."

"Well, we can talk later."

She tried to shove past him, but he tightened his grip on her arms and pushed her up against the wall, pinning her in place with his own body.

"Warren! Let me go!"

"I'm not letting you leave until we talk."

Finally she gave up her struggles and relaxed slightly.

"Fine. What do you need to talk about so desperately?"

"We need to talk about what happened last night."

Eris bit her lip and stared at the ground.

"Nothing happened."

"Well, I'm pretty sure that something did...why did you run, Eris? Did I hurt you somehow?"

She shook her head, but refused to look at him.

"Then why did you run? What are you so scared of?"

"I'm not afraid of anything," she spat. "And you shouldn't be making accusations about things that you know nothing about!"

Warren sighed. "I'm sorry."

"You should be."

"I just - I need to know, if it wasn't me, then what was it? Why did you feel like you had to run away?"

"It's none of your business!"

"Fine."

He stepped away from her, taking his hands off her arms. "I'll go then."

Muttering something under her breath, she shoved past him and left the classroom, heading for the girls locker room.

* * *

"All right!" bellowed Coach Boomer the minute everyone took their seats. "This year, we're going to change things up a bit. Some of you don't know how to fight one on one, so we're going to teach you about it. As of now, Save the Citizen will involve ONE villain and ONE hero ! So no relying on your friends to help you out... You either win or you lose... And if you lose, I don't want to hear any crying, because..."

"Crying is for whiner babies," Eris muttered.

Unfortunately for her, Boomer heard her and spun around to face her.

"All right, Storm. You're our first victim... I mean volunteer. You are the hero. And... Frost," he said, pointing to Sadie who was sitting a few rows away. "You're the villain."

"Great. I'm gonna die." Eris muttered as she climbed down into the arena and strapped on the protective padding.

"You know the rules. Three minutes to save your citizen. And GO!!!"

* * *

Sadie threw a sharp spike of ice at Eris, but she managed to dodge it.

Suddenly the floor became very slippery and Eris realized that Sadie had covered the entire arena in a thin sheet of ice.

As she tried to dodge the next spike, her feet skidded and she fell, avoiding getting impaled on the diamond-hard spike. It grazed her cheek though, cutting a thin line though her skin.

"Ok, this is just getting annoying."

Calling upon some energy, she sent a series of electric shocks through the ice, causing it to crack and even melt in some spots.

Across the arena, she heard Sadie swear and then a large pair of arms, made out of ice stretched through the air and grabbed her by the throat, pinning her up against the boards.

Sadie walked closer, making the arms slightly smaller in length as she went, until she and Eris were about two feet away from each other.

"I told you you'd be sorry, bitch. How would you like to be choked to death, right here, in front of everyone?"

Eris pulled frantically at the hands, but they wouldn't budge. Black spots were beginning to swim in front of her eyes and it was getting harder to breath.

"Coach Boomer!" Layla called from the stands. "Do something! Sadie's really hurting her!"

"She can deal with it," was his only response before he turned his back on Layla.

Just before things went completely black, Eris lashed out with her foot and connected with something relatively soft, which made an interesting crack sound when her foot hit it.

A second later, she was on all fours on the ground, gasping for breath, while Sadie staggered backwards.

"You bitch!" She screamed. " You broke my NOSE!"

"Yeah, well, you tried to choke me to death... Seems pretty fair to me."

"All right. That's it... You are SO dead!"

Sadie charged her, but Eris stuck out her leg, tripping Sadie and sending her flying into the boards.

Sadie rebounded off the boards and then crumpled into a small, unmoving heap.

The citizen was about to hit the mulcher, but Eris cut the rope with another short burst of electricity and then used what little energy she had left to call on a small wind, effectively pulling the citizen away from the chopping blades.

The buzzer sounded and the audience cheered.

"Hero's win. Someone get Frost to the nurse's office."

Two of Sadie's friends jumped into the arena and picked her up, carrying her out of the gym.

"Storm, hit the showers!"

Eris nodded weakly and was about to head in that direction, but more black dots clouded her vision and she stumbled slightly.

Shaking her head, she got up and tried to move forwards again, but another wave of blackness washed over her and she would have hit the floor, if Warren hadn't been there to catch her.

He helped her stand up again, but when she tried to walk and promptly fell over, it became evident that she was never going to make it to the showers or the nurses' office on her own.

"C'mon. We need to get you to Nurse Spex."

She shook her head weakly. "No, I'm fine. I just need to sit down for a minute."

"You're about to pass out."

"No… really… I'm fine."

"Ok, you are in no position to argue with me right now. Let's save this for a time when you're more than semiconscious. Now, put your arms around my neck."

She did so and he slipped one arm around her waist and the other under her legs, lifting her feet off the ground.

"How come it seems like you've saved me from doing face-plants a lot lately?" Eris murmured sleepily.

"I don't know. I'm considering it as a full time career option though."

"You should. You're pretty good at it."

Warren smiled slightly and then carried her out of the gym.

* * *


	15. Chapter 14

* * *

Eris winced as she tried to sit up and instantly flopped back against the pillow with a small groan.

Suddenly there was a pair of very warm hands sliding under her back and helping her to carefully sit up on the cot.

She rubbed her eyes and blinked a few times, before Warren's face suddenly came into focus in front of her.

"Are you okay?" He asked, with a slightly worried tone to his voice.

"Well, except for the fact that my head feels like someone took a jackhammer to it. What the hell happened?"

"You blacked out on me, about halfway here. I had to carry you the rest of the way."

Eris blushed slightly. "Oh... Uh, thanks."

"It's okay. If I hadn't, you probably would've just done yourself some more damage."

"Hey! I am not _that _accident-prone."

Warren smirked. "Of course you aren't."

Eris punched him playfully on the shoulder. "You take that back!"

"Hey, I was agreeing with you."

"Yeah, right. You were being sarcastic." She rolled her eyes and attempted to punch him again, but Warren grabbed her wrist, causing her to overbalance and land in his lap.

He wrapped an arm around her waist and then reached over with his other hand and grabbed her other wrist as well.

"Warren, let go."

He grinned and tightened his grip on her waist. "Nope. If you keep moving around like that, you're going to hurt yourself again. So, the easiest solution is for me to make sure you can't move."

"Ha-ha. But seriously, let me go."

"Where are you in such a hurry to get off to?"

Eris ducked her head, hiding behind her long bangs.

"Nowhere," she whispered.

Warren let go of her wrists and slipped his hand under her chin, forcing her to look at him.

"Why do you feel like you need to run from me, Eris?"

Eris shrugged but Warren could feel her body tense up.

"It's not you… it's people… men, in general."

"Did something happen to you? Something that made you afraid of guys?"

Eris nodded slowly and he could see the tears that were beginning to pool in her eyes.

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it. But you know that I would never do anything to hurt you, right?"

She smiled shyly and nodded again, before reaching up to brush the tears away from her eyes.

"Sorry I'm being such a girl. I-it's just something that's really hard for me to talk about."

"It's okay. I can wait until you're ready."

"Thanks."

Warren smiled at her, before leaning forwards and pressing a gentle kiss to her lips.

He somewhat expected Eris to pull away, like she done the last time, but instead she relaxed in his arms, leaning into him and putting her arms around his waist.

His tongue gently touched her lips and she opened up with a soft sigh.

Warren rested his free hand against her cheek, but kept his other arm wrapped firmly around Eris' waist.

They probably would've kept kissing for a while if they hadn't been interrupted by a delicate cough.

Nurse Spex was standing in front of them with a slightly amused look on her face.

"Well, it appears that you're doing better, Ms. Storm. I'll let you go now, so that you both don't miss your bus, but if there is any more pain, you should consult a doctor."

Eris nodded, a red blush staining her cheeks and then quickly stood up, disentangling herself from Warren.

"Go on. Both of you. Scat."

Nurse Spex made a little shooing motion with her hands.

Eris grabbed her bag off the floor and left the infirmary rather hurriedly.

She was about to head for the bus, when Warren caught her hand and pulled her back towards him.

"You're not running off on me again, are you?" He asked, smiling slightly.

She shook her head and smiled shyly again.

"Good. We should get going. We don't want to miss the bus."

He started towards the front doors, but didn't let go of her hand.

Eris smiled to herself and gently intertwined her fingers with his, before following him outside.

* * *


	16. Chapter 15

**

* * *

**

Warren sat down on his ratty, old desk chair as he waited for his computer to finish booting up.

He had just finished a shift at the Paper Lantern and was already dead tired, but he had to finish a paper for Superhero 101, known as History to most people and really couldn't afford to hand it in late.

As soon as he had logged into his mainframe, a conversation window popped up.

Warren scanned the name, but didn't recognize it.

Then he clicked open the window and read the message.

**Discord says:**

Hey. I've been wanting to talk to you, but I didn't have your phone number, so I got your e-mail from Layla. I hope you don't mind...

Warren still didn't know who the sender was, but he typed in a response anyways.

**Pax says:**

Who is this?

**Discord says:**

Really, out of everyone you know, who'd be most likely to use the screen-name Discord?

Warren thought for a moment, but the he saw the persons e-mail address and realized who it was.

**Pax says:**

Eris?

**Discord says:**

Ding-ding-ding! Ladies and Gentlemen, we have ourselves a winna!

**Pax says:**

Cute...

**Discord says:**

I know I am. : )

**Pax says:**

So why Discord?

**Discord says:**

Hello? Greek Legends?

**Pax says:**

Sorry, not so much for the Greek myths. I'm more of a philosophy guy myself.

**Discord says:**

Fine. I'll give you the overview then. The apple of Discord was thrown into a party of the gods by the goddess of Chaos. Upon it was written For the Fairest. Obviously, several of the goddesses got to squabbling over who was the fairest and the whole mess resulted in the Trojan war.

**Pax says:**

And this relates to you how?

**Discord says:**

My name. Eris was the goddess of chaos... Although I don't actually have any Greek roots in my family. But who am I to argue?

**Pax says:**

Interesting. So what did you want to talk about?

**Discord says:**

I wanted to talk about us.

I mean, if there even is an "us".

I'm just kinda confused about everything that's been happening lately.

**Pax says:**

I have to admit, I'm a bit confused too.

Things in general have been happening pretty quickly.

I'd really like to see you outside of school, but maybe we should take it slowly at first.

I mean, wasn't it just a few weeks ago that you hated my guts: )

**Discord says:**

Didn't hate you specifically. I hated everyone... but I'm over that now.

Taking it slow sounds like a good idea though.

**Pax says:**

All right... Slow it is.

Unless you thinking me asking you out would be going too fast, how about I take you out for dinner this Friday?

**Discord says:**

Dinner would be great. : )

I have to work, but my shift ends at nine, so we could go out after that?

**Pax says:**

Definitely.

I've got to go now... I've got that paper for Supers 101, but I'll see you tomorrow?

**Discord says:**

Ok... Night!

See ya tomorrow!

* * *


	17. Chapter 16

* * *

Eris slid onto the seat beside Magenta and set about unpackaging her lunch.

Warren had declined to sit with them, but when she glanced his way, he gave her a quick smile, before returning to his book.

"What are you looking at, Eris?" She heard Magenta ask.

"N-nothing. I just thought I saw someone I knew."

Magenta looked at her, like she didn't quite believe her, but then shrugged.

"Mm-hmm. Hey does the Hero 101 textbook cover anything on Plasma Man? We're supposed to answer some questions on him, but I can't find any info."

"Yeah, I think so."

"Magenta, you can't do that!" Ethan protested, as Eris handed her the book.

"Mr. Boy said we could use any source we wanted to find the answers, so this is my source," she replied somewhat sourly.

"Yeah! That's my girl!" Zach yelled, in support of his girlfriend.

"Zach?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

Eris noticed Layla was only picking at her salad and looking rather upset.

"Hey, Layla. What's up?"

The other girl looked up, seeming surprised.

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing. Really."

"Layla, it's obvious something's up," Magenta commented. "So spill."

"It's Will," Layla sighed. "We were supposed to go out dinner, but then he never showed. And this isn't the first time it's happened either. I just don't know what's going on."

"Where is the Boy Wonder anyways?"

"I don't know. I mean, normally if he's sick or something, he'd call. But so far, nothing. The last time he acted like this was last year..."

"When he was crushing on Gwen." Magenta finished for her.

"That is weird. Normally he's like a little puppy dog, following you around all the time."

Layla blushed at this analogy. "It's not like that!"

"Mmm-hmm?"

"It isn't! We're in an equally committed relationship!"

"If you say so."

"We are!"

"So, has he asked you to homecoming yet ?" Magenta questioned.

"No..." Layla shook her head slowly. "I tried to bring it up with him, but he said he didn't want to talk about it."

"Sounds to me like someone's having commitment issues," Magenta commented drily.

"He's not! He's just been... distant lately."

Eris nodded, but she wasn't really listening to the conversation anymore. Suddenly, she straightened up and grinned at Layla.

"I have an idea. Why don't you let me and Magenta give you a makeover? Then you'll totally show Will what he's been missing."

"Oh, I don't know..."

"C'mon, Layla. It's a great idea. Besides, you are completely safe in our hands."

"...Okay. I'll do it."

"Great. Are you both free this weekend?"

"I'm busy Friday," Eris said. "But Saturday's completely open."

"So we'll do it then. We'll reveal the new Layla on Monday, but we'll also make sure you have a standout outfit for the dance."

Layla smiled brightly at them. "You guys are great. Thanks so much!"

"No problem."

"Yeah, it's no big deal. I need a new dress anyways. What about you, Eris?"

"Me? I don't think I'm going."

"Why? Hasn't Warren asked you yet?"

Eris choked on her drink and tried to not spit it out onto the table.

"W-Warren? Why would he ask me?"

"We're not blind or stupid, Eris. Everyone saw that little display in the gym, the day before."

"Well, we're not going out. Besides, I don't really think Warren's the Homecoming type."

"He went last year."

"Even then, we haven't really talked much."

"So, let's get him to talk to you. We'll do a double makeover on Saturday. You and Layla."

"What's wrong with the way I dress?" Eris asked, looking down at her clothes. She was wearing one of her favorite outfits, which consisted of an ankle-length black skirt with a small slit on one side, black boots and a black and blue striped long-sleeve shirt with a black velvet vest overtop. Her hair was pulled into a high ponytail, but she had left her bangs out again.

"Well, for one thing, your clothes are always too big. You look like you're trying to hide in the or something."

"They're comfortable!"

Magenta shot her an annoyed look. "Clothes can be comfortable and fit. You need some new ones. And you could do with a haircut."

Eris fingered her long bangs, looking at them carefully. "What's wrong with my hair?"

:When was the last time you had a haircut?"

"I don't know... A few years maybe."

"Then you really need to get it cut. But you also need to stop hiding behind it."

"I do not."

'Then let me fix it for you."

"No! "

"Why not? Are you scared?"

"No..."

"Then let me fix it."

Eris threw her hands up in defeat. She knew that she couldn't out-argue Magenta, so it would be easier to just give in now and get it over with. "Fine. You win. Work your magic!"

"Okay. Let's go. Layla, you coming?"

The redhead nodded and quickly packed up her things.

Eris sighed inwardly and slowly picked up her bag, before Magenta grabbed her by the arm and steered her out of the cafeteria.

* * *


	18. Chapter 17

* * *

Eris tugged at her gym shirt and frowned. "It's too tight."

"It's not too tight. Now stop pulling on it or you're going to yank the safety pins loose and stab yourself. And stop playing with your hair."

"But I'm not used to it being pulled back," she whined.

"You wear it pulled back all the time."

"But not my bangs."

"Well, deal with it. Now let's go."

Eris started to protest, but Magenta grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out of the change-room.

Magenta pushed her down onto one of the bleachers and then walked down to where the other Hero Support kids were sitting.

"Stay!" She called over her should.

Eris considered flipping her off, but settled for sticking her tongue out instead.

"You mind if I sit here?"

She looked up to see Warren standing beside her.

"Nope, not at all."

He didn't move though and Eris frowned up at him.

"Please sit. It's hurting my neck to keep looking at you like this."

He sat down and then glanced at her again.

"You look different."

"Yeah... Magenta decided I was in need of a makeover." Eris tugged on part of her bangs, which Magenta had pinned back with a clip. " I look stupid, I know. You don't need to tell me."

Warren pulled her hand down, away from her hair, but then didn't let go.

"No, you don't look stupid. You look... Nice."

Eris felt her cheeks getting hot and mentally kicked herself for acting like such a girl.

"Thanks."

"So, what's the occasion?"

"None, really... Well, actually, it's sorta supposed to be for Homecoming. But not really... But I don't really know... And I'm rambling, aren't I?"

Warren smiled at her. "Yeah, you are. But you're cute when you ramble."

"Stop it."

"Stop what?"

"Stop complimenting me. You're making me blush and soon I'm going to start imitating a human tomato."

"Can't help it. It's too easy to give you compliments... I mean, you're cute and funny and spunky... need I go on?"

Eris scowled at him. "I'm spunky?"

Warren stretched his legs out over the empty seat in front of him and gave her a cocky grin.

"Definitely."

"What the hell does _spunky_ mean anyways?"

He shrugged.

"So I'm spunky, even though you have no clue what the hell it means?"

"Sure."

Eris scowled again and shook her head. "You are one weird guy, Peace."

"Yet you have conceded to going on a date with me on Friday, so there's obviously something about me that you find attractive."

"And again... You are really weird. But yes, I do find you attractive. In fact, a lot of girls at this school find you attractive. Happy now?"

"Sure. So, what do you want to do on Friday?"

"I don't know. Dinner, maybe?"

"All right. Any place in particular you'd like to go?"

"I really don't know any of the restaurants around here yet. Except for the Paper Lantern."

"So, I'll pick then?"

"Sure. Surprise me."

"All right. Are there any types of food that you don't like?"

"Nope. I'm not a picky eater. So why don't I give you the address for where I work and then we'll meet there?"

Eris pulled a pen out of her pocket and scribbled a name and address on Warren's hand.

"The Joker?"

"Yeah. It's a club downtown."

"If it's a club, how are you allowed to work there?"

"I just serve the drinks. Besides, they like having younger waitresses. It brings the guys back.'

"Should I be jealous?"

"No. Most of them are sleaze bags anyways. Especially these two guys. They've started showing up a lot lately."

"What are they like?"

"Well, one's really tall and skinny and seems to have things for striped shirts and his friend is shorter and kinda chubby."

"Have you ever heard their names?"

"Yeah. I think the tall guy is called Slash... Or something like that. And the fat guys name is Speed."

"Is the skinny one's name Lash?"

"Yeah, that's it. How'd you know?"

Warren shook his head in disbelief. "They're part of the group that tried to destroy Sky High last year at Homecoming. But the last I'd heard of them, they were still in jail."

Eris frowned, thinking hard. "Well, I'm working there tonight. I'll try to get some pictures of them if they're there and then we can figure out if they're the right guys or not."

Just then, the bell rang, signaling the end of the period.

"I'll see you later, okay?"

Warren leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, before heading to the boys' locker room.

Eris giggled happily and briefly touched her cheek, before going to the girls' locker room to pack up her stuff and get ready to go home.

* * *


	19. Chapter 18

* * *

Eris growled as another club-goer blew a large lungful of smoke in her direction.

"You know, if I wanted to develop lung cancer, I'd actually take up smoking," she muttered, fighting the urge to crack the offender over the head with her tray. Instead, she settled for creating a small rain cloud over their head, which promptly doused them and their cigarette in a short burst of icy-cold water.

Giggling to herself, she slipped around the edge of the dance floor, her tray held high to avoid getting the drinks on it knocked over by overly enthusiastic dancers.

She had almost made to it the table to deliver the drinks, but then she felt a hand around her waist. Scowling, she removed the offending object and then glared at it's owner.

"Cute, Lash. How'd you like to wind up with a tray of drinks dumped over your head?" Eris yelled over the music.

The former villain grinned at her and then nudged Speed who was snickering into his Coke. "I'd rather see you with one of those nice, foamy girly drinks poured all over you. Maybe while wearing a thong bikini, what d'you say?"

"I say, you tell me any more of your sick fantasies, I'm not only getting you kicked out of here, I'm also going to get Bruno to give you a little parting gift that you're not gonna forget."

"Aww, c'mon, Eris, I'm just playing."

Eris was about to respond, when the alarm on her watch went off. She only had fifteen minutes to get cleaned up before Warren arrived to pick her up for their date.

"And as much as I'd love to continue our witty debate Lash, I have places to be. Buh-bye."

Quickly depositing the drinks at their appropriate table, Eris made her way back across the dance floor and then ducked behind the bar.

"Yumi!" She called over the music to the other waitress. "Can you cover the last fifteen minutes of my shift? I've got to get ready."

The older girl grinned at her and then gestured towards the backroom. "Go ahead. But you'll owe me for this."

"I know."

Eris grabbed her bag from under the counter and headed into the coatroom. After checking to make sure no one else was around, she quickly stripped off her uniform, which consisted of black hip-hugger pants and a black v-necked t-shirt and began to pull on the outfit that Magenta had put together for her.

She had been intending on wearing a black knee-length skirt that was made of a gauzy material, over leggings with flip-flops and a long, blue star-spangled shirt, under a short-sleeved grey satin blazer, but Magenta had shown up at her house before she went to work and promptly told her that the outfit was all wrong for a first date. So instead she was wearing a pair of black, skinny-leg jeans that she had left over from before she used to date Tannin, with a blue shirt that had a faux-corset front and a long-sleeved black velvet blazer, with her skull-patch slip-ons.

She carefully pulled her hair back into a low ponytail, trying to make it as smooth as possible and then tied one of her scarves, head-band style over it. Magenta had given her make-up to wear, but she decided to skip it, choosing instead to just line her eyes in a thin layer of kohl.

Dropping her bag and jacket under the counter, Eris started helping Nikki, the bartender pour drinks, while keeping one eye on the door.

* * *

The dancers partied on and Eris kept glancing at her watch and then back at the door. Nine p.m. had come and gone and there was still no sign of Warren. By the time eleven rolled around, Eris had moved beyond being upset and into being pissed. She knew it was this Friday that they were supposed to go out, because she was going shopping with Layla and Magenta tomorrow and she knew it was supposed to have been nine 'o' clock that they were going to meet, because she'd set her watch alarm. But there was no sign of Warren Peace and she was starting to think maybe this had been some kind of cruel joke on his part.

"A girl as gorgeous as yourself shouldn't be looking as sad as you are right now."

"Go to hell, Lash," Eris mumbled, but her heart wasn't in it.

"I might not be the greatest guy around, but I'm not one of the worst either. How about you let me buy you dinner?"

"No thanks."

"C'mon, Eris… I've been an ass to you in the past, I'll admit that much. But would you let me say I'm sorry by buying you dinner?"

Eris glanced at Yumi, who raised her eyebrows and nodded slightly and then back at the door. Still no Warren.

"Okay, I'll let you buy me dinner. But we're sitting on separate sides of the table, all right?"

"Okay. I'm good with that."

Slipping out from behind the bar, she walked over to Lash who was holding the door of the club open for her. Stepping outside, she glanced up at the brightly-lit night sky and then sighed slightly.

"Tell you what. To make up for the fact that I'm a total jerk, I'll even let you tell me what's bugging you and I promise to actually listen, okay?"

Eris smiled slightly and then slipped her arm through Lash's.

"It's a deal."

* * *

Warren quickly parked his bike and almost ran into the club. His mom had called from Israel, where she was currently on a peace-keeping mission and he'd got caught up in talking to her. By the time he'd gotten off the phone, it was already quarter to eleven and he'd had to rush to get over to the club.

_Shit,_ he thought._ Eris is going to kill me. Nice going, Peace. You try to impress a girl and you can't even make it to your date on time._

He didn't see Eris anywhere around the dance floor, so he crossed over to the bar, where a pretty Japanese girl was serving drinks.

"Excuse me?"

The girl looked at him and then her eyes widened, as if she recognized him.

"Are you Warren?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"Well, if you're looking for Eris, she's gone. She waited for you for two hours, but then she left."

"Did she say if she was going home?"

The girl thought for a moment and then shook her head. "Nah, she went out."

"Do you know where?"

"Nah. But she was with this guy. Tall with longish brown hair. Black and white striped shirt. He comes here a lot, so she knows him."

Warren saw red, when he figured out who she had left with. He couldn't believe it. Out of all the people in the world, she had to choose Lash to spend time with?

Muttering curse words in Japanese, he strode out of the club and climbed back on his bike. He would go see her tomorrow and make it clear, that if they were going to date, she wasn't going to hang out with Lash anymore.

* * *


	20. Chapter 19

* * *

Eris pressed a hand to her mouth, trying to stifle her giggles, so she wouldn't spray a mouthful of Coke across the table. Lash had been entertaining her for the past hour with some hilarious stories of his childhood, a lot of them involving him using his powers to freak out the other kids in his neighborhood.

She managed to choke down her drink and then glared at Lash.

He caught her look and shrugged at her, waggling his eyebrows in a suggestive manner. "What?"

"I think I've discovered your devious plan… You're going to get rid of me, by making me choke to death."

Lash collapsed dramatically across his side of the booth and then raised a hand to his forehead, faking distress.

"Oh no. You've found me out. Whatever will I do?"

Eris giggled harder and then quickly hid her face in her hands, as she felt her cheeks heat up. When she raised her head again, their waitress had come and gone and was already behind the counter, shooting her a strange look.

"You good to go?"

Eris nodded and then stood up from the vinyl covered bench. Lash helped her put her jacket on and then slid a piece of Bazooka Joe bubblegum into her hand.

"On the house, Madame." He murmured in a phony, British accent, bowing low as he held the door open for her.

Eris grinned and put on an equally fake British accent. "Why thank you, good sir."

It was a short walk from the kitschy 50's diner that Lash had taken her to, to her house and it wasn't long before they were at her front door.

"I had fun tonight. Thank you, Lash. You're not such a bad guy after all."

"It's cool. And I'll ignore that bad guy comment, as long as you say we can do this again sometime."

Eris thought about it for a minute. She knew that her friends wouldn't like it if they knew she was hanging around with Lash and she knew Warren would really hate that idea, but what did she care? Lash was nice and funny and she enjoyed hanging out with him. Pulling a pen out of her bag, she grabbed his wrist and scrawled her cell number on it.

"I don't do much on the weekends, so give me a call. 'Night."

Unlocking the door, she slipped inside and padded down the hallway before throwing herself on her bed. She was asleep so quickly, that she missed her phone ringing.

* * *

"I can't believe Warren would do something like that!"

Eris shrugged and then shifted her shopping bags from one hand to the other. She'd already accumulated quite a few, as Hiroshi had authorized the use of his credit card, because when she'd told him what her plans were for the day, he'd almost had a heart attack over the idea that _his_ niece was taking an interest in fashion.

"I mean, that totally doesn't sound like something he'd do. . ."

"Believe it or not, Layla, that's what he did."

She hadn't intended on telling Layla or Magenta about the fact that Warren had stood her up, but when Magenta had asked her how her date had gone, the truth had sort of come spilling out.

"Well, maybe one of us could call him. I mean, there's probably an explanation for all this."

"If you wouldn't mind Layla, I'd like to keep this between Warren and me. If he has a reason why he wasn't there last night, I want to hear it from him."

"Well, if we're done fully analyzing Warren and Eris's love life, I think I see our next destination."

Eris followed Magenta's outstretched index finger to a brightly lit red sign that lay above a gothic archway.

"Oh, God no," she groaned. "Anywhere but there."

Magenta grinned evilly and began pulling Eris in the direction of the store. "I know Hot Topic may be the spawn of all the annoying little Mall Goths, but they still have some pretty sweet stuff there. We are going to go in and get you an outfit that is guaranteed to make Warren's head spin."

After trying on several outfits that were completely dictated by Magenta and then forcing Layla into an outfit that looked like a cross between a rebel schoolgirl and a hooker, Eris found herself sitting in a salon, listening to bad techno music and watching the stylist criticize Layla's hair as he cut it.

Eris turned to Magenta who was currently in conference with the stylist who was going to do her hair and grabbed her arm.

"Not too short, okay? I don't want really short hair."

Magenta waved her hands dismissively and then peeled Eris's fingers off her arm.

"Don't worry. You can trust me."

"No, I can't."

"Okay true, you can't. But it'll be all right."

An hour later, they were leaving the salon and Eris was practically dancing around the parking lot.

"Magenta, have I told you recently that I love you?"

"Not in the last five minutes, you haven't. But calm down, it's just a haircut."

"Yes, but I look great. Better than I ever have before. And Layla looks great too. We all look great."

Layla smiled shyly and tugged nervously on the hem of the emerald green tank-top she was wearing. "You really think I look okay?"

"You look great. Will's not gonna know what hit him."

Layla giggled happily and linked her arms through Eris's and Magenta's. "You guys are great, you know that? This was so much fun."

"Yeah, we should do this again sometime. Maybe not shopping, but hanging out. Doing whatever it is that girly-girls do."

Eris and Layla both turned to Magenta, who was watching them with a wary look on her face. After a minute though, she sighed and shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

* * *

Eris pulled her key out of the lock and then moved into the front hall, dropping her bags as she went.

"Uncle Hiroshi, I'm back!" she called. "I'm gonna leave your card on the table, 'kay?"

Getting no response, Eris was about to move her stuff into her bedroom, when she noticed someone sitting in her living room. Backtracking a few steps, she stuck her head into the room and then almost fell over in surprise at who their guest was.

"Warren?"

He turned to face her and she could see his eyes were hard and dark. "We need to talk..."

* * *


	21. Chapter 20

* * *

"…We need to talk."

Eris dropped her bags on the ground and scowled at Warren.

"Sure let's talk. But what about, hmm? I don't know... how about the fact that you totally stood me up last night? What about that, Warren?"

"That doesn't matter right now. What matters is the fact that you were hanging out with Lash last night. You know what he's done, so why would you even bother spending any time with him?"

Eris made a noise of irritation and threw up her hands. "Oh, so you can't be bothered to keep your date with me, but you still have plenty of time to spy on me?! For your information, Lash is a really nice guy. He actually cares about what I think and about how I feel, unlike some other people I could name!"

"Still, I don't think you spend any time with him. He tried to kill most of the school last year, in case you forgot."

"Well how could I, considering that you keep constantly reminding me? And who are you to tell me what to do anyways? If you'd rather lecture me on who I choose to spend my time with, than explain to me why you couldn't possibly find time to keep our date last night, I don't think we have anything else to say to each other."

Warren growled and raked his hands through his hair. "Eris..."

Sparks of lightening began to flicker across Eris's eyes and thunder rumbled ominously outside.

"Get out."

"Eris, just listen to me..."

"No." The thunder grew louder and a bolt of lightening struck a tree incredibly close to the house. "Get out."

Warren growled again and stormed towards the front door. "Fine, I'm going."

Eris heard the front door slam shut and then the sound of Warren's motorcycle peal off down the street. Rain was pounding heavily against the windows now and it matched the tears that were streaking down her cheeks. Slumping to the floor, Eris buried her face in the couch cushions and let out a muffled wail.

* * *

A few minutes later, her sobs subsided and she sat up, wiping her face off. Across the room, her cellphone rang, chiming out the chorus of AFI's _Miss Murder_. Eris slowly clambered to her feet and stumbled over to her purse.

Fishing the phone out, she flipped it open and lifted it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"E-Eris?"

"Layla, what's wrong?"

"It's-it's Will. H-he dumped me."

Eris heard the other girl break into a fresh round of sobs and her heart seized up.

"Did he say why?"

"N-n-nooo!"

"Do you want me to come over?"

She heard Layla sniffle a few more times and then meekly murmur "Uh-huh."

"Okay, I'll call Magenta and we'll be right over, 'kay?"

"T-thanks. You're a really good friieennnd..."

Layla burst into another round of sobs and Eris had to spend a few more minutes comforting her, before she could hang up and call Magenta.

* * *

Rain squished up through Eris's toes ever time she took a step and she glared up at the sky and growled.

_Stupid weather. Stupid powers. I can start a torrential rain if I'm pissed off enough, but apparently I'm still not strong enough to stop one._

Swiping her wet hair out of her eyes, she pulled her sodden jacket closer around her and rang Layla's doorbell.

Layla's mom answered, with a sad expression on her face.

"It's good to see you, Eris. Layla's up in her room."

"Okay. Thanks."

Peeling her shoes off, she left her jacket on the back of one of the kitchen chairs and jogged up the stairs to Layla's room.

The other girl was sitting on her bed, a pillow clutched tightly to her stomach and an expression on her face that would make you think her puppy just died.

"Hey."

Layla sniffled in response and curled closer into the pillow.

"When did he tell you?"

"This morning. We had a breakfast date and he showed up really late and then told me. And he was looking all weird too."

"He looked weird?"

"Yeah, like some sort of Warren clone. No offense," she said hastily, seeing the dark look on Eris's face.

"None taken. Feel free to say anything about him. I don't care."

Layla reached over and squeezed Eris's knee. "You guys had a fight huh?"

"How'd you guess?"

"Well, I kinda got clued in when it went from being perfectly sunny and nice to insanely dark and rainy in a few seconds."

Eris hung her head, a light blush staining her cheeks. "Yeah, that was me. But if you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about it right now. Maybe later."

"Okay."

"So what do you mean Will looked like a Warren clone?"

"Well, for one thing he's dyed his hair black."

"What?!"

Layla smiled slightly. "I know. I was surprised too. And he was wearing black jeans and a black t-shirt and sweatshirt. I almost didn't recognize him when he walked in the door."

"Wow. So what did he say?"

"That he felt we'd 'grown apart' and that he wanted to see other people. I mean, how stupid is that?"

"That's really stupid. It's like the oldest line in the book."

"I know."

"So that was it? No explanation for the sudden change or anything?"

"Nope."

"Well, pardon me for saying this, but I personally think that Mr. Will Stronghold is a bit of a moron."

Layla giggled and then quickly covered her mouth.

"Oh c'mon, Layla. You're allowed to laugh now. You aren't dating him anymore."

Layla looked like she was about to cry for a second, but then she straightened her shoulders and nodded sharply. "That's right. I'm not. He dumped me, so he can't complain if I decide I want to date someone else. Someone who really likes me."

Eris reached over and hugged Layla tightly. "Exactly. You wanna go see if Magenta's here yet?"

Layla hugged Eris back and then nodded again. "Sure. And Eris?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

* * *


	22. Chapter 21

* * *

Eris slid onto the bench beside Layla and set about re-tying her shoe laces. It was Monday afternoon and their grade was gathered in the gym for yet another round of Save the Citizen. After working the knots out of her laces, Eris sat back up and blew her hair out of her face. Glancing around the gym, she saw Warren sitting a few rows down and over from where she sat, but deliberately avoided making eye contact with him. Instead, she looked over and saw Will sitting with a slinky looking girl, who had fishnets on under her gym uniform and very badly dyed black hair. True to Layla's word, Will had also dyed his hair black and had black nail polish on his fingernails.

Nudging Magenta with her elbow, she leaned close to the other girl and whispered in her ear, so as not to attract Layla's attention.

"Hey, Magenta. You see Will today?"

"No. Where is he?"

Eris quickly glanced sideways to make sure that Layla wasn't paying attention and then nodded in Will's direction.

"No way! When she said he'd changed I didn't think she meant that much! He's got nail polish on..."

"I know. It's weird. And who is that girl?"

"I think she's in a few of my classes. She's got the power to control shadows, but it's really weak. I think her name's Brittany, but she makes everyone call her Ravyn."

"Wow. That's really sad."

"Yeah. And what does Will see in her?"

"No clue..."

"What're you guys talking about?"

Eris and Magenta both jumped slightly, when they heard Layla speak.

"Um, nothing."

"Riight. Like I don't know you guys are talking about Will and Ravyn."

The two girls traded guilty looks and Eris fiddled with the zipper on her sweatshirt.

"We just weren't sure if you could handle it right now."

Layla shrugged. "He made his choice. I'm dealing."

Magenta smiled and lightly punched Layla on the arm. "You go girl."

* * *

"All right, people. Settle down. We're gonna start now, so stop socializing. First up for my heroes, I want Stronghold and... Peace. And for my villains, Star and..." He drew out the pause, before turning and grinning maliciously at Eris. "Storm."

Eris groaned and shook her head. "Why does this man live to torment me?"

"C'mon Eris. This is your chance to work your anger at Warren out. You can hit him and it won't mean anything."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Hey Eris?"

Eris looked at Layla who was staring down at Will.

"Yeah?"

"Can you get a few hits in for me? I mean, I don't want you to really hurt him or anything..."

"Don't worry, Layla. I know what you mean."

Eris climbed down the bleachers, brushing past Warren without giving him a second glance and walked over to where her partner was standing. Libby Star was a tiny girl, with multi-colored hair and multiple rainbow-colored bracelets on her arms. She looked like she wouldn't be able to hurt a fly, but Eris knew she had both the power of telekinesis and mental manipulation and could be quite dangerous when she wanted to.

"You going to be able to handle this, Storm?" she asked, giving Eris a sideways look as she began to put on her armor.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, having to fight your boyfriend. Can you do it?"

"He's not my boyfriend. And yes, I think I can. In fact, I'm looking forward to it."

"O-kay. I'm gonna do defensive first. Make 'em think that they're surrounded by heavy fog. Can you control Warren's flames with one of your force fields?"

"All right. You gonna take out Will?"

"Yeah. You care if I play dirty against him?"

"Nope. That's what villains do."

"Okay. Let's do this then."

Will finished putting on his protective padding and looked across the arena, catching Eris's death stare that she was shooting him. He swallowed nervously and then turned to Warren.

"We're going to want to be careful..."

The other boy shot him a look. "Why?"

"Well because, I broke up with Layla on the weekend and I think Eris might want to get revenge for that."

Warren raised one eyebrow. "You and the hippie broke up? Why?"

"It's kinda complicated. But I really don't wanna lose to her, all right?"

"Whatever."

They climbed into the arena and Coach Boomer started the buzzer. Almost instantaneously, the arena filled with a heavy fog so thick that Warren couldn't see anything around him.

"Warren?" He heard Will's voice call.

"Yeah?"

"What are we going to do?"

"Here"

With a quick thought, his arms lit up, providing some light in the darkness.

He heard Will moving to his left and then a bench came hurtling out of the fog. It missed him at he managed to duck in time, but he heard it crash against the boards not too far from him.

"Stronghold, what the hell are you doing?"

He still couldn't see Will, but the other boy's voice was shaky when he responded.

"I-I don't know. It's like I can't control myself."

Warren shook his head, muttering under his breath. "Damnit. Mind control. All right Stronghold, try not to do anything, okay? I'm gonna take out Star."

"Sorry, lover, but that's not happening any time soon."

Eris's voice emerged from the fog and then it parted like a curtain opening, as she moved towards him.

"Eris, this isn't the time..."

"Time for what? It's a game, Warren. I'm the villain. You're trying to take out my teammate, so it's in my best interest to stop you. I have no other motive."

"Look, I don't want to hurt you. But if you push me, I'm going to have to..."

"I'd like to see you try."

Warren growled low in his throat and then formed a small fireball, throwing it at Eris.

An electrical shield sprang up around him, before it could get too far and he had to duck when the fireball rebounded back at him. Warren tried to force his way through the shield, but just wound up singing his armor in the process.

Outside the field, Eris moved a little closer, so the walls of the field grew larger, but she still kept her distance from him.

"You think this is about revenge? Yeah, sure I was pissed that you stood me up, but now? I could care less. We didn't have anything going on, so it's not like I'm going to be upset about a relationship that never even happened."

"Look, I'm sorry for what happened, all right? I got caught up in a conversation with my mom. I didn't mean to be late."

Eris's features softened a little, but the electrical shield didn't shrink.

"Okay. That's all I wanted, Warren. A reason. I figured you had one, but then you burst in with that whole lecture about Lash... Word to the wise, if a girl is already pissed at you, lecturing her before you apologize is not such a good plan."

Warren looked at Eris through the crackling air and saw she was smiling slightly at him.

"You're right. I think... and this is going to be the only time you'll ever hear me say this, so don't expect a repeat. I think I was jealous and so I got mad."

Eris raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You were jealous? About what? It's not like I _like_ Lash or anything. He just wanted to take me out for dinner because I was already having a tough night and then I thought you stood me up, so I was upset and he was trying to cheer me up. That's all."

"Well, I feel kinda stupid now."

"You sort of should, I think."

Warren heard the buzzer sound behind him and then the electrical shield was gone.

"All right. Villains win. Stronghold, Peace, hit the showers."

Eris smiled and shrugged slightly. "Sorry."

"It's okay. So, I'll see you on the bus then?"

She smiled a little more broadly and then nodded. "Definitely. But do you mind if... once we get off the bus of course, if we talk?"

"Sure."

"Okay. See you."

Eris smiled once more at him and then moved over to where Libby was standing on the other side of the arena.

Warren left the arena and began stripping off the armor. Will had already removed most of his and was now leaning against the boards, looking very pale and shaky.

"Warren, what the hell happened?"

Warren glanced across the arena at Eris again and then shrugged indifferently.

"Looks like we lost."

"I thought I said I didn't want to lose."

"Wasn't something I could control. Fire powers don't work well against electrical shields."

He finished removing the armor and then headed for the locker rooms, leaving a fuming Will standing behind him.

* * *


	23. Chapter 22

A/N: Sorry for the wait guys. And thanks to everyone who's been so patient with me, while I took this extended hiatus. But I'm back and will be posting either again just before my finals begin or shortly after them. So keep checking for updates!

* * *

By the time Warren made it to the bus, Eris was already seated, her head against the window and her eyes closed. He smiled slightly and then slid into the empty space beside her, slipping his book out of his bag, as the bus rumbled to life beneath them.

* * *

It wasn't long before the bus reached their stop and Warren packed away his things before gently shaking Eris awake.

"Huh? Wha-?"

"We're here. You need to get up."

Eris smiled at him and then rubbed her eyes quickly.

"Thanks. I was up late last night working on an essay and I guess I didn't realize how tired I was until all the adrenaline from Save the Citizen wore off…"

She climbed off the seat and followed him off the bus. Warren tried to reach for her hand, but Eris quickly untangled their fingers and grabbed her bag strap instead, holding tightly to it.

Warren frowned slightly at this, but shook it off and continued walking.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

Eris seemed to have been lost in her own thoughts and looked up suddenly when he spoke.

"What?"

"In Gym, you mentioned wanting to talk about something… what was it?"

"Oh, yes. Talk. Right. About that… Um… I don't really know how I'm gonna say this… Um…"

"You can just say it. I don't care."

"Um, okay… Well, I wanted to talk about… about you… and me… Us, really."

"What about us?"

"Well, about how… is there even an us? I mean, we haven't even been on a date yet… and we've only known each other, for like, a couple of weeks… and I'm just wondering… maybewe'removingkindaquickly?"

Warren smiled at Eris' nervousness and grabbed her hand, pulling her down to sit beside him on a bench.

"You're gonna have to slow that last part down. I didn't really catch it."

Eris blushed and ducked her head, trying to hide behind long bangs that weren't there anymore.

"I think, maybe… maybe we're moving a little too quickly. For me that is. I mean… the last relationship I was in… it really didn't end too well and I'm not really wanting to jump into another one. That was kinda the reason I was so hostile when I first met you… so I was wondering… would you be okay with taking it slow for a while… like maybe, just starting out as friends?"

_Nonononono! That is not what we want! Say no! Tell her she has to date you! Do it! Doitdoitdoitdoitdoitdoit!_

"Sure… if that's what'll take for you to feel comfortable around me, then I'm fine with it."

_NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!_

Eris smiled shyly at him and then hugged him quickly before pulling away.

"Thanks, Warren. You're a really great guy to be so understanding."

He smiled slightly and then stood up.

"Nah. I'm just putting on a really good act."

Eris frowned at him and playfully stuck her tongue out, but the look was quickly replaced with one of horror, as her eyes lit on something behind.

That was the last thing he saw, before something struck him on the head and he fell to the ground, Eris' cry of pain ringing in his ears as he slipped into darkness.

* * *

BUM-BUM-BUUUMMMM!

Oh noes! The dreaded cliff-hanger!

Well, if you want to find out what happens next, check soon for more updates!


	24. Author's Note

Hey guys,

Long time no see huh?

Sorry for everyone who thought this was a real update, but I wanted to post this to let you know that I've been working on rewriting Electrical Storm and I should have some new chapters in the next few weeks. There'll be some other changes too, mostly to the character of Eris (who's now going by the name Eden – I really love the name Eris, but I also created the character a while back and have realized the name, like the character is a bit more over the top than I planned for) but also to the plot (I really want to make it more linear and less jumpy – guess that's what happens when you spend several years writing a fic and sometimes will go more than six months between updates).

So thanks to everyone who has hung on with me and my sporadic writing (I blame university life) and thanks to everyone who has kept reviewing and adding alerts and such. I can't promise the updates will come quickly (at least not until April), but I do promise that the edits and the new chapters will be well-written and better thought out than they have been in the past.

Cheers,

Spoongirl1


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